child away at school a dependent ?

I thought sure the answer was "yes", but can't seem to confirm in IRS
pubs ...

Child is 21yo, living away from home as a full-time student more than
half the year;
parent (my friend, not me BTW) is paying more than half of support.
Is he a dependent ?

IRS doesn't seem to include "at school" as an exception to the
residency test.

Thanks.

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Pub 501, page 13 (Temporary Absences)
(Listed as Education)
>
> Child is 21yo, living away from home as a full-time student more than
> half the year;
> parent (my friend, not me BTW) is paying more than half of support.
> Is he a dependent ?

You are relying on "old law". For "dependent child" it depends on
whether child provides more than 1/2 of own support.
>
> IRS doesn't seem to include "at school" as an exception to the
> residency test.

Try "education"

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Guest

On Jan 21, 3:24 pm, JGE <> wrote:
> I thought sure the answer was "yes", but can't seem to confirm in IRS
> pubs ...
>
> Child is 21yo, living away from home as a full-time student more than
> half the year;
> parent (my friend, not me BTW) is paying more than half of support.
> Is he a dependent ?
>
> IRS doesn't seem to include "at school" as an exception to the
> residency test.
>From the 1040 instructions:

Exception to time lived with you. Temporary absences by you or the
other person for special circumstances, such as school, vacation,
business, medical care, military service, or detention in a juvenile
facility, count as time lived in the home. Also see Kidnapped child
on page 19, if applicable.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

Duh, I saw "one of you, or both, are temporarily absent" and thought
it
was referring to the child's parents.
> > Child is 21yo, living away from home as a full-time student more than
> > half the year;
> > parent (my friend, not me BTW) is paying more than half of support.
> > Is he a dependent ?
>
> You are relying on "old law". For "dependent child" it depends on
> whether child provides more than 1/2 of own support.

I don't quite grok the distinction, but either way, I think he's
covered.

Thank you.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

Guest

On Jan 21, 7:32 pm, JGE <> wrote:
> > > Child is 21yo, living away from home as a full-time student more than
> > > half the year;
> > > parent (my friend, not me BTW) is paying more than half of support.
> > > Is he a dependent ?
>
> > You are relying on "old law". For "dependent child" it depends on
> > whether child provides more than 1/2 of own support.
>
> I don't quite grok the distinction, but either way, I think he's
> covered.

It makes a difference when there are there are 3 people. He provides
40% of his own support, parents provide 20%, uncle provides 30%, ABC
corporation provides 10%. I think from this example the parent can
claim the child as a dependent because the child did not provide 50%
or more of his support.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

On 1/21/10 5:34 PM, wrote:
> On Jan 21, 3:24 pm, JGE<> wrote:
>
>> I thought sure the answer was "yes", but can't seem to confirm in IRS
>> pubs ...
>>
>> Child is 21yo, living away from home as a full-time student more than
>> half the year;
>> parent (my friend, not me BTW) is paying more than half of support.
>> Is he a dependent ?
>>
>> IRS doesn't seem to include "at school" as an exception to the
>> residency test.
>
>> From the 1040 instructions:
>
> Exception to time lived with you. Temporary absences by you or the
> other person for special circumstances, such as school, vacation,
> business, medical care, military service, or detention in a juvenile
> facility, count as time lived in the home. Also see Kidnapped child
> on page 19, if applicable.
>
This comes up at least every year. The statement is true as long
as the emancipated child does not change his/her domicile. An
example is a child who in order to obtain in-state tuition, makes
a change in domicile, obtains a new driver's license and
registers to vote in the state where he/her goes to school. That
is no longer a temporary absence.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

The IRS publication has never specified "a student away from the home for school is exemped from the residency test". Te original question raised in 2010 still confuse lot of people. Even worse, when you use the 2011 TurboTax's worksheet, if you enter the true number of month that the child lives with you (an out of home college student may only stays at home for 1~2 months when school is off), the tax software treats him/her to be disqualified as a dependent even all other tests were passed. Why IRS would not clearly say so or clearly give a definition of "residency" up to today?

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